Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Congressional Mommyism

This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every HSA transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense. Democrats say this is to ensure that consumers are using their tax-free withdrawals for a knee replacement, rather than a new iPod.

Because, you know, insurance companies are so very gullible and vulnerable when it comes to people scamming them.

A key player here is Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, whose main purpose in politics is to give the U.S. a government-run health-care system. He is a known opponent of HSAs – once comparing them to "weapons of mass destruction" – because they introduce more individual choice into the health-care marketplace.

I would mock the voters in Rep. Stark’s district (San Fransisco – go figure), except that I live in Tammy Baldwin’s district, and would therefore be throwing stones from inside my own glass house.

Pushing for the provision was a company called Evolution Benefits, which has patented a system for the substantiation of health-care expenses... Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel helped make sure the provision was in the bill, which passed largely on partisan lines.

Congressional DemocratsTM: now with extra corporate graft!

Since HSAs were created in December 2003, 3.2 million HSA accounts have been opened, covering 4.5 million Americans. Nearly a third of new HSA users previously had no insurance and bought coverage on their own. Thirty-three percent are small businesses that had not previously offered coverage to their employees. Isn't this what good progressives claim to want?